Dragon Conjurer 3, page 7
“Keep your pants on,” Nala joked as she left the room and took her place at my side. She was looking radiant as ever in her uniform, and I couldn’t help but appreciate her curves. “Steffi’s just about ready. You’ll get to see her soon enough.”
“She say anything to you before she got in the shower?” I asked and put my arm around her waist.
“Just that we’re both the luckiest ladies at AIMM,” Nala giggled and put her head on my bicep. “I didn’t need her to tell me that, though.”
The door opened again, and my other lover sashayed into the hall like she was gliding on air. The cotton candy-colored curls framed Steffi’s face, and her golden tattoos glimmered on her exposed shoulders. Her cheeks were rosy, and her lips were curled up into a sweet smile as she moved to my other side and hung onto my arm.
“Hey, handsome,” she purred as we walked down the hall toward the elevator.
“Hey, yourself,” I replied and kissed each of the girls on the forehead. “I know how Steffi and I slept, but what about everyone else?”
“Like a log,” Nala giggled and buried her face into my chest for a moment. It was like she was trying to hide the blush I gave her when I kissed her on the head, but I didn’t know why she’d be embarrassed. Maybe she was laughing about something else. “When Steffi didn’t come back in, I knew you’d done a number on her, Dyl.”
Oh, so that was what was so funny to her.
“He did,” the fairy goddess laughed before I could interject. “You know how he is. Always so good.”
“I certainly know now…” The caramel-skinned beauty rubbed my abs as we walked into the elevator to head to the cafeteria. “I hope he made up for our absence.”
“He more than made up for it.” Steffi wrapped her arm around my waist and leaned her head on my shoulder as we rode down to the ground floor. “Maybe you should keep him for a week. He’s even better when I’ve been waiting for him.”
“Oh, fuck,” Nick sighed and put his fingers into his ears. “This is just like back in high school.”
“How is this like high school?” I asked him and cocked my head to one side. “Did you know a dude with two girlfriends?”
“No, but everyone was all horned up for each other, and I was always surrounded by the talk.” The blond dude dropped his hands, and then a shudder traveled up and down his body. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the three of you, but I just got, like, fucking ‘Nam flashbacks.”
“We’ll lighten up,” the pink-haired goddess assured him as she flipped her curls out of her face. “Come on, let’s go get the biggest helpings of breakfast we’ve ever gotten.”
“The lunch ladies are going to think they didn’t feed us in Japan,” I joked after thinking about all the food I got yesterday.
“Yeah, but who cares?” Nick replied with a shrug. “We’re allowed to eat whatever we want, so what does it matter?”
“True,” Nala added with a snap of her fingers. “The lunch ladies keep us well fed around here.”
“Not just because we get a lot of food.” I led the way off the elevator when the doors opened for us to step off. “We get an awful lot of food around here, but the quality! I never knew school lunches could be so good.”
“Agreed.” Steffi gripped my waist a little tighter once we arrived at the cafeteria doors. “I went to a private school in SoCal, and we still didn’t have food nearly as good as we have here.”
We stepped into the cafeteria and realized we were going to have to wait a while for our breakfast. Everyone in the school had to be lined up right now.
Oh, well. I didn’t mind the wait.
“I didn’t expect everyone to be here all at once,” Nick murmured as we took our places at the back of the line. “I’m kind of surprised. Normally, the crowd’s a little more spread out around breakfast.”
“Probably just came at the busiest time,” Nala mused and pressed herself closer into my side as if she was afraid we’d get separated in the crowds. “Don’t leave me, Dyl.”
“I would never do that.” I held both of the girls closer to me as more people started to crowd around us. “We’ll be at the front of the line before you know it. We just--”
“Hey, what’s Burkhard doing here?” Nick interrupted and pointed to the stage at the front of the room.
I hadn’t even noticed before we came in, but the stage that was usually empty had been decorated with a microphone and stand. Nothing ceremonious, so I didn’t feel like we were missing anything, but I didn’t know what was going on at the moment. Unless we missed something, we weren’t having an awards ceremony today.
“Good morning, cadets,” the headmaster’s voice boomed as he stepped up to the mike. “Thank you for attending the impromptu and unannounced assembly.”
A few chuckles went up around the room.
“I decided there was no reason to call an official assembly because, well, AIMM has delicious food, and I know none of you would want to miss out on that.” Burkhard laughed at his own joke, and everyone around us laughed, too.
“As you all know,” he continued, “AIMM has been in communication with the Academies around the world for the last couple of weeks, and today, we are able to present the fruits of our labors.”
The headmaster held his hand out to his right, and three people I’d never seen before took to the stage with him.
One of the two guys was lean and wiry. His red hair created a carrottop halo around his head under the harsh lights, and his defined jaw was set like a stone face. He wasn’t particularly large or muscular, but his body type reminded me of an MMA featherweight fighter.
The guy next to him was the polar opposite, and I didn’t think for a minute he was anything less than a mountain. The dark-haired muscle man stood half a foot taller than the other kid, and everything on his body was thicker than tree trunks. Even his wrists here the size of saplings, and every muscle under his skin was defined to the max. I could tell by the way the guy was standing that he knew he was scary because he almost seemed to be posing as they stood up on stage together.
But the third person with them was who caught my eye. She was a pale redhead with a single braid running over her shoulder and down to her belly button. Her sharp and foxlike features surveyed the room around her with a quiet intelligence, but the blush in her face kept her looking youthful and less serious.
Holy shit, she was cute.
“AIMM cadets,” Burkhard rumbled and pulled me out of my thoughts, “meet our new friends from AMIE!”
“Hell yeah!” I grinned. “The French have arrived.”
Chapter Five
“Cool, we get to host the French-iez!” Nick whispered. “I’ve always wanted to meet some French people.”
“Same here, man,” I replied. “This is going to be an awesome time.”
“Wasn’t Burkhard going to tell us when they got here?” Nala asked as her brow furrowed.
“I don’t know,” I whispered with a shrug. “Maybe it just happened too quickly.”
“Our French visitors are going to stay with us for an indefinite amount of time,” Burkhard explained as he took the microphone off the stand and started to walk beside the students. Then he paused next to the redheaded guy and extended his hand to him. “Mr. Michel Bernard, welcome to AIMM.”
“Thank you,” the boy said into the mic as he shook Burkhard’s hand, and his voice lilted with a thick French accent. “I trust we will have much to learn from our sister Academy, and her cadets.”
“I assure you, we have much to learn from you, as well.” The headmaster moved over to the mountain man beside Michel and grinned at him. “Welcome to our Academy, Mr. Leon Legrand. We look forward to having you.”
“I look forward to being here,” Leon answered without once dropping his form.
That dude was scary huge.
Finally, the headmaster moved past the men and next to the girl with them. “Ms. Elisabeth Bernard, we are happy to have you here.”
“I thank you for your warm welcome,” the fiery beauty replied with the most charming accent I’d ever heard. “I, my cousin, and our classmate are happy to have this opportunity.”
“Now, onto business.” Burkhard moved back to the microphone stand and placed the device back into its cradle. “Since the cadets from our French sister Academy will be staying with us for two or more weeks, I am assigning the duty of making this team feel welcome to Dylan Cooper and his team. I know you won’t let us down, Mr. Cooper.”
“Hell yeah!” Nick whisper-shouted as he slapped my back. “We’ve got the transfers!”
“We’re glad to have this chance to work closely with you, AMIE cadets,” I called over the dull roar of the crowd around me. I had no idea if the French cadets heard me, but I knew Burkhard had seen me talk to them.
“Now, that’s all I have to say,” the headmaster said. “Mr. Cooper, I ask you and your team to take the AMIE cadets through the breakfast line, then you can escort them around the grounds. We have a suite across the hall from yours prepared for them, so take them there when you’re finished.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied and nodded my head.
“Assembly dismissed.” The Kingpin look-alike turned the microphone off and headed off the stage, and then the three French kids hopped down and made a beeline toward us.
“How did they know to head straight here?” I murmured to my group before the others arrived.
“Maybe they heard you say something?” Steffi suggested with a shrug. “Or maybe they just know you’re the only guy in here with dragon tattoos, so you have to be Dylan Cooper, Dragon Conjurer.”
“Right.” I pursed my lips and let go of Nala’s and Steffi’s hands once the transfers arrived. “Hey, I’m Dylan.”
“We know,” Leon rumbled as he crossed his meaty arms over his barrel-wide chest.
Jeez, did this guy eat mountain lions for breakfast or something?
“I’m Elisabeth,” the foxy redhead piped up as she pushed her way past the guys and extended her hand toward me. “We’ve heard a lot about you, Dylan. We’re looking forward to learning from you.”
“Well, I don’t know how much I can teach you, but I’ll do my best.” I shook her hand once before I looked around at my teammates and grinned. “This is Steffi Foster.”
“Nice to meet all of you,” the fairy-girl said and shook each of the French kids’ hands.
“Here we have Nala Jefferson.” I patted the smaller beauty on her back.
“Hi, guys,” she greeted and copied Steffi’s movements. “We just got back from Japan, so we’re super stoked to see you guys here so soon.”
“And last but not least, here’s Nick Walters.” I turned around and swept my arms dramatically toward my best friend.
“What’s up?” The blond dude shook Elisabeth’s hand, but then he switched things up and knuckle bumped the two guys. “Can’t wait to hear about what your Academy is like.”
“But first, breakfast,” I said and clapped my hands together as the line started to move again. “I missed dinner last night, so I’m ready to eat a horse.”
“We haven’t had dinner,” Michel chuckled and slipped into line with us. “Then again, we flew backwards in time.”
“Yeah, time zones are weird.” The nymph managed to scoot his way to the front of the group even though we had new people on our team, and I counted on him to somehow make his way to the food first because this guy lived to eat.
“We know how you feel,” I added as the line continued to move forward. “We just returned from MAJK, and we were pretty jetlagged when we first got there. Still recovering from getting back, to be honest, but it wasn’t too weird. We got used to the time change pretty quickly, so maybe you will, too.”
“I’m sure we will,” Elisabeth giggled and moved a little closer to me. “So, what is it like to be a Dragon Conjurer?”
“It’s awesome, I’m not going to lie.” I glanced over my shoulder to get a better look at the redhead. “I didn’t know what to think when I first found out I was a Dragon Conjurer, but I’m pretty much used to it by now. All the perks that come with it are so worth it.”
“What sort of perks?” The French hottie put her hand on her chin and tilted her head to one side like she was trying to think deeply about something.
“Well, for one thing, people respect me.” I squared my shoulders and opened my arms so Steffi and Nala could cling even closer to me. “I’ve got some pretty hot groupies, too.”
“We’re not your groupies!” Nala laughed and punched me in the side. “We’re way better than your fans.”
“Of course you are, but you’re still my fans.” I smiled at each of the girls and let them go once we made it to the end of the food line. “Alright, finally.”
I had no idea if the extended spread of goodies was because we had visitors, or if the cafeteria just so happened to make the nicest breakfast I’d ever seen, but I didn’t really care what the reasons were. I was too busy drooling over the scrumptious options we had displayed for us.
I ended up getting two plates so I could have one dedicated to the different kinds of breakfast meats, and the other was set aside just for the extra side dishes. I got a hearty helping of ham, bacon, sausage links, and eggs, and then I had the lunch ladies stack my second plate high with buttermilk biscuits, toast, and pancakes.
I actually thought about asking Leon if he could get me a third plate, but he was a little busy checking his own reflection out in the sneeze guard, so I decided I’d walk back through the line if I really wanted more after I finished this helping.
After the seven of us got through the line, we headed over to a table where three extra chairs were set. We sat down around it, with Steffi and Nala on either side of me, the French kids sitting with each other, and Nick rounding out the circle on Nala’s other side.
“So, how was the flight over here?” Steffi asked the transfers as she took a sip of her juice. “I hope it wasn’t too long or rough.”
“The weather was nice up there,” Michel replied and nodded at the fairy-girl next to me. “Our pilot was skilled at avoiding any danger, so we had a very smooth flight.”
“Smoother than we’re used to,” Elisabeth joked and folded her hands on the table in front of herself. “We’ve had to make many drops out of our jets in order to get to our destination. We’re very good at it, but it does not mean we are fond of jumping out of a moving jet.”
“Do any of you fly?” Nick asked around a mouthful of hash browns. “Just curious. Steffi and Dylan are our residential aerialists, so Nala and I usually have to improvise our way through a drop.”
“I am a shapeshifter,” the foxy redhead answered first. “I can manipulate my appearance to be as small or as large as I want. I can give myself wings, or I can turn into an eagle should I choose to. My only limitation is that I cannot shapeshift into monsters of any kind.”
“So, like a real-life Mystique?” I asked and thought about how crazy it would be to have her powers. I was already super happy with my powers, but Elisabeth sounded pretty powerful in her own right. “You can change into whatever you want, when you want?”
“Yes, that’s accurate.” She flashed me a smile, and the gesture got me thinking about her appearance.
Was all of this her natural look, or had she changed something about herself before she came here?
Did it really matter? She was hot regardless.
“What about you guys?” Nala questioned after she swallowed a bite of bacon. “What can the two of you do?”
“I have a similar power to my cousin’s,” Michel answered and laced his fingers together. “While I can’t change into a bird or a lion at will, I can adapt to our environment and develop characteristics to help me survive. Whether it is extra insulation for a colder climate, night vision in the dark, or gills to breathe underwater, I can change my body’s physiology in order to adapt to my surroundings.”
“That’s badass as hell,” Nick remarked and nodded his head in approval. “You’ve got an awesome power. Can you make yourself stronger to fight a monster or give yourself wings if you need to fly?”
“Whatever I need to survive.” The redheaded French dude nodded and picked up his fork. “It certainly comes in handy.”
“What about you, Leon?” I asked and tilted my head to look at the mountain man across the table. “Are you super strong or something?”
“In a way,” he rumbled before he looked down at his fork and seemed to try to catch his reflection in the shiny surface. “I have the ability to manipulate the density of my molecules. I can phase through objects or turn myself into something as dense as stone. My physique is merely a byproduct of the hard work I’ve put in to shape my body into the perfect form it is.”
Okay, so he had a cool power but was more than a little stuck on himself. As long as Leon could work with the team, though, I didn’t care how obsessed he was with himself. What mattered was his work ethic, not his narcissism.
“What about the rest of you?” Elisabeth asked with a tilt of her head. “We already know Dylan’s because he’s the Conjurer, but what about the three of you?”
“So glad you asked,” Nick chuckled as he popped his neck like he was about to launch into a physical demonstration. “See, I can--”
Before he could finish, I looked over at the clock mounted on the wall and noticed how late it was into the hour. If we wanted to tour the entire facility before it got too late in the day, we’d have to start now.
“Sorry, Nick,” I interrupted by placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll have to save this for another time. We should get going.”
We all quickly finished our breakfasts and got up so I could lead the transfers in a tour around the facilities. I figured it was the best way to get them used to where everything was since they’d be here for a while.
“So, what have you guys seen so far?” I asked after we dropped off our dishes and left the cafeteria. “I know you’ve probably been to Burkhard’s office, and you would’ve had to come into the Academy through the hangar.”
